This book will fill the gaps that hamper the effective utilization of the resilience and sustainability concepts within emergency planning: one concerns the lack of a comprehensive review of this multi-level concept; the second relates to its multi-level nature. Specifically, the text identifies a need for the systematic integration of these different... more...

The police fight a different kind of war, and the enemy is the police officerís own civilian population: those who engage in crime, social indignity, and inhumane treatment of others. The result for the police officer is both physical and psychological battering, occasionally culminating in the officer sacrificing his or her life to protect others.... more...

This book provides a comprehensive review of the recognition, consequences and treatment of traumatic stress in critical occupations. The term "critical occupation" describes both the critical role that members of the emergency and helping professions play in protecting communities and their members and the fact that, in the course of acting... more...

Wildfires represent a growing threat to environments, to people, communities, and to societies worldwide, particularly in the United States, Southern Europe, and Australia. Recognition of this growing risk has highlighted a need to develop people's capacity to adapt to annually occurring events that could increase in frequency and severity over... more...

The Consequences of Disasters: Demographic, Planning and Policy Implications presents innovative multi-disciplinary perspectives on how people and societies respond to, and recover from sudden, unexpected crisis events like natural disasters which impact tragically on the established patterns and structures of their lives. Through detailed empirical... more...

Since the 1980's, posttraumatic stress intervention has focused primarily on "psychological debriefings" to help prevent posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). While debriefing is said to be important, mental health professionals are uncertain about outcomes, and there is agreement that debriefing may be somewhat hindered by its pathogenic... more...

The impact of events such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina were felt across the spectrum of organizations. Such events provide vivid illustrations of the exceptional circumstances that emergency and protective service agencies and businesses alike can encounter. The goal of this book is to broaden the perspectives on the populations... more...

Despite the evident advantages that being prepared for natural life-threatening events confers on people and communities, research has consistently found that individual, community, and business preparedness levels are low. This book examines why this is so and identifies what can be done to expedite the development of sustained preparedness, at household,... more...

Persons engaged in occupations that require emergency responses must frequently deal with exposure to incidents that are traumatic. Some of these persons develop posttraumatic stress reactions or full-blown posttraumatic stress disorder, while others do not. A key issue in the development of traumatic stress is vulnerability. This book draws from research... more...

More than 90% of wildfires are caused by human activity, but other causes include lighting, drought, wind and changing weather conditions, underground coal fires, and even volcanic activity. Wildfire Hazards, Risks, and Disasters, one of nine volumes in the Elsevier Hazards and Disasters series, provides a close and detailed examination of wildfires... more...